This is Home
by Mini-Em
Summary: How does Booth deal with Brennan's absence? When will she be back? What happens then? A BB one-shot. It's friendship taken to a whole new level whatever you make of that, is your buisness . Hope it's readable


**Another One-shot I've written. It has nothing to do with the series of one-shots I've mentioned in the Coffee-fic, but hopefully it's readable anyway :) Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to comment :) **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Bones...I think...*goes to check*... nope, not yet....**

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

A soft knock on the door.

He wouldn't have heard it if he hadn't turned the TV off just seconds earlier and was now sitting on the couch thinking things through; Why had he said that? Why had he made her leave? He hadn't meant it anyways. "It's only been four months. She'll be back in another eight months" he had to remind himself every day. It was like that song "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Michel; "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone."

"Oh, yeah, the door" He got up and answered the door. He was only wearing pajama-pants.

He was surprised to see the person standing outside the door.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" the surprised tone must have given him away

"Oh, like you don't see me here every week" The woman sounded a bit angry as she pushed a bottle of wine into his chest.

"What are you doing here Rebecca? Where's Parker? Is he alright?" Seeley began to feel a bit uncomfortable in her presence.

"Parker's fine. Stop worrying. He's sleeping at a friend's house tonight. Can't I just drop by so we can just talk?" Rebecca said and picked two glasses from the shelf.

"Rebecca, you need to leave. Now!" he was beginning to get a bit upset. What makes her think she can just come walking in here, uninvited, and just think everything will be fine?

"Why?" she smiled

"Because we both know what will happen if you and I sit down, talk and have some wine"

"And what is that?" she was about two inches from his face with a playful smile on her lips.

He stepped back.

"We're going to end up in bed together"

"What's wrong with that?"

"I don't love you. I did, once, but not now and I don't want to sleep with you"

"Fine" she grabbed her purse and yanked the door open.

Seeley just stood there, staring at the place where Rebecca had stood. Rebecca spoke and that was all that was needed to get him out of his coma-like state.

"Dr. Brennan?" she sounded surprised

Seeley's head turned immediately.

"Bones?" her hand was raised as if she was about to knock on the door.

"Umm…I was just…bye Seeley" Rebecca hurried past Temperance and disappeared down the stairs, leaving the two people standing there.

Temperance was wearing a pair of black shorts and a white tank-top. She had a rather big duffel bag hanging over one shoulder. She looked tired and weak.

"What are you doing here? You want to come in?" Seeley said although a million questions were circling in his head. All in due time. He couldn't leave her standing out here.

"Yeah. I came by to ask you something, but this might be a bad time. It's kind of urgent. I don't mean to barge in or anything"

"You're always welcome here, Bones, you know that"

She smiled. She'd missed that name. The second she was in the hallway, she dumped the bag and turned around, realizing she was much closer than the thought. His smell hit her. God, he smelled good.

"Look…here's the thing. I just got back from a seven and a half hour trip from San Juan to DC, where I spent almost two and a half hours in the Miami airport, I'm really tired and my apartment is rented for the rest of the year and I have no where else to go so I'm wondering if…if maybe I could sleep on your couch tonight?" she looked helpless. Seeley knew this couldn't be easy for her to ask this.

He tried of a nice way to say that it was fine and that she was always welcome to stay at his place, but the words wouldn't form in his mouth.

She bit her lip.

"I knew I shouldn't have come" she started picking up her bag but Seeley prevented her by grabbing her shoulders

"No, no, no, no, no. Of course you can stay here. Really, it's no problem at all. You can always stay here Bones, I'm just a bit shocked as I didn't expect you back so soon that's all." He was secretly glad as he had been counting for what seemed forever and now it all seemed too quick! He looked her in the eyes. "Come on, I'll fix the couch for you. Or would you rather have my bed?" He knew she would opt for the couch but he didn't want her to see him as any less than a gentleman so he offered all the same.

"No, the couch will be just fine" she dropped her bag on the floor again.

They made up the couch and said goodnight. Temperance thought she would be asleep within the next five minutes but she couldn't. She needed to talk to him.

She tiptoed all the way to his bedroom and tapped on his door.

"Come in" Booth was surprised. He thought she'd be sleeping by now.

She entered the room. He couldn't help but notice how hot she looked; her hair was a bit tangled and she was wearing another tank top and just a pair of hot-pants. She was really beginning to regret her choice of clothes. She should have put some sweatpants on at least.

"Hey Bones. What's up?" he tried to keep his eyes on her face. "Have a seat" he gestured towards the empty part of the bed.

She sat down, leaning towards the end of the bed.

"I couldn't sleep" she announced

"Oh" he tried to think of something to say "Anything you want to talk about?"

"I don't know" she thought about it.

"Maybe why you came back?" he tried

"I don't know"

"If you want to talk about it or why you came back?"

"Um…both I think"

"Come on, Bones. There must have been something that made you want to come back from the lovely vacation with Sully. You were supposed to be away for another eight months" he smiled.

"I know. I guess I just couldn't bear it all, you know. Being on a boat 24/7, alone with Sully was very..."

"Fun?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of annoying. He kind of started getting on my nerves" she had a nervous smile.

"You're kidding me? You gave up the great vacation because he was getting on your nerves? I get on your nerves all the time and you still put up with me"

"Yeah, but that's different"

"How?" he demanded to know.

"Well, we're partners. We share a bond beyond just boyfriend/girlfriend. We have our own thing. You are a heart-person and I'm a brain-person" she tried to explain "But with Sully, I felt like I had to trade my brain-person for a heart-person and I just couldn't do that. I am a brain-person, not a heart-person." She said again as though the more times she repeated it would make a difference to how Booth understood it. "Does that make any sense?" she had the adorable confused look on her face.

"Yeah, but you left one part out" the secret-smile appeared; the smile he always had when he knew something and she didn't

"What?"

"You're a heart-person too. And don't deny it!" he added and raised his finger as she was about to object "I've seen you Bones; you're a heart-person too, honest!"

"We are partners so when I'm with you, I don't have to act like a heart-person" she looked down "It's also one of the reasons I came back" she said in a low voice

"So you don't have to be a heart-person? Well, speaking as the heart-person I am, it's not so bad"

She threw a pillow at him and laughed

"No, Booth!" she whined "Because we are…we were partners" she looked at him "I missed that" she paused "I missed you"

"I missed you to" his voice became serious "And I don't think I've heard Angela speak so much so frequently about anybody. I swear, she mentioned you in every sentence"

They laughed a bit.

"Really? They missed me?" her smile appeared again

"Yeah, they did. We all did"

They sat quiet.

"Are those all the reasons for leaving? Cause if they were...." Seeley began

"No, they are not all the reasons. I have one more"

"Which is…?" he lurked

"I didn't feel at home"

"Umm…well…that's a…that's a good reason I guess" Booth mumbled.

"I feel at home here. I have all my friends, I have my family, I have…" she took a deep breath "you"

He looked up at her.

"Me? I get my own category?" he joked

"Stop it. It's not funny!" she was a bit hurt.

"I'm sorry, Bones. I think I have feelings for you too" he said

"I never said I had feelings for you" she sounded startled

"You didn't have to. I could tell anyway"

Temperance thought about it. Had she been that obvious? She wished him a good night for a second time, got up and walked back to her couch but before she did she kissed his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"Just… Just for being you!"

However when she returned to the couch she couldn't stop thinking about what she had said and done. She twisted and turned for another 40 minutes before tiptoeing back to his room and tapping quietly on his door once again. He must have been awake because there was no way he could have heard that unless he was.

"What's the matter Bones? My couch not comfortable enough for you?" he said jokingly

"I can't sleep" she announced again.

"What's the matter this time?" he sounded concerned. She could tell he was almost asleep.

"I don't know. I just can't sleep. Just came to see if you were awake too but I see you're almost asleep so I'll just…" she gestured towards the door and turned around.

"Hey Bones!"

She stopped and turned around

"You want to sleep here? In my bed?"

"Where will you sleep? Like you said the couch isn't comfy." Bones was clever but sometimes just a little bit slow.

Booth was about to say that he would sleep in the bed to but she starting talking again before he had the chance…

"Do you want to sleep in the bed too?"

"You don't mind?" although he asked the question inside he was ecstatic

She shook her head

"Goodnight Booth" she said after she crawled down in his bed and tucked herself in.

"Goodnight Temperance"

Third time a charm. Within two minutes, they were both sound asleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning Temperance found herself facing Special Agent Seeley Booth when she woke up. His arm was on her waist. She looked at him and remembered what she'd said that night; how she felt at home here. There was no question about it. She turned around and moved closer to Seeley, letting his hand slide down over her belly.

"_This_ is home" she thought as she went back to sleep again.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Remember: Comments = Happy Em ^^ **

**Comment away! =]**


End file.
